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wThe Hall of Games |
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My Top 25 Favorite Game Shows
#1 - THE PRICE IS RIGHT (CBS Version)
Hosts: Bob Barker; Dennis James; Tom Kennedy; Doug Davidson
What can I say that hasn't been said about this show? This is a show
that manages to keep itself fresh each year introducing new pricing games
which people can play along with at home. Again, you don't have to be a
genius to win on this show, you just need to have a little experience with
the game from watching and you need to have shopped around town. Bob Barker
really shows how he is one of the masters of masters of ceremony-ing (so
I made up a word!) being able to deal with contestants young and old, clever
and hopelessly dumb, overly excited and dreadfully calm, and make them
entertaining. One intersting thing about seeing a couple of '72 episodes
is to see how Barker at times seemed too excited and plastic and how he
seems a hell of a lot more natural in the episodes we see today. But still,
you see the glimmer of the Barker we all know as he deals with Connie in the
very first CBS showcase round ever of TPIR. It's also interesting to see how
the audience is much more subdued in the '72 episodes, unsure how to react to
this brand new show. Another testament to how great this show is is the fact
that there is so much that has stayed the same throughout the shows 20+ years
on the air. The classic theme has pretty much stayed the same. The showcase
round has stayed the same. There are some games which have stayed the same.
The first two go-rounds in syndication were great. They were exact copies
of the half-hour version. Dennis James handled the job superbly and you
could tell that he was rooting for those contestants as they played the
pricing games. Plus, though he had been entering fourth decade in
television Dennis James showed great energy and enthusisasm for his job
just as if he were young and new to the biz.
Tom Kennedy also did a great job too though it was apparent that he was a
bit unsure of himself at first. Unfortunately, his version only lasted a
year, but had he been given another year or so to get used to hosting the
show, I'm sure he would been more natural and loose.
The 90s Doug Davidson version while it was a noble effort feel short
in that there were so many radical changes from the original and also
because of Davidson's newness to the game hosting thing. However, in the
later episodes, it looked like he was finally getting the hang of things
and hitting his stride. Again, given the time, he probably have eased into the role and made it
his own. Unfortunately, in today's world, there is no time to give
somebody time to grow. I even liked the set changes for the nighttime
version. The video wall and the colors chosen were very appropriate, a
much better and more successful attempt at modernizing than that of Feud's
in 1994.
#2 - MATCH GAME (CBS/1st Syndie Version)
Host: Gene Rayburn
One of my all-time favorite game shows. I think Gene Rayburn put it
best by saying (now I'm paraphrasing here) that concept of the game was
stupid, but everyone on the show was having fun. And in a sense, the game
format indeed a little dumb. Fill in the punchline to your run-of-the-mill
joke. A very simple format, but it was sure fun to watch, probably the
most fun and wild you can get without delving into the campiness of Chuck
Barris territory. What struck me though was even though the questions
were double-entrendre, it was very rare for the stars to take the plunge and go all the way. The things
that made this version stand out from its later versions were the quickness
of the games (two rounds and that's it), that wank guitar for the think
music and theme, and of course, the stars. Brett Somers, Charles Nelson
Reilly, Richard Dawson, and semi-regulars Fannie Flagg and Betty White,
gave the show personality.
Gene Rayburn does a marvelous job of hosting the show. He was not one to
hold back when a contestant gave a real "rotten" answer. Just look at the
now-infamous "cuckoo, friend, and Ollie" clip. Also, bonus points go out
to the later introduction of the Star Wheel in the later episodes of this
run and the PM version show (these were the first episodes of the show that I remember seeing firsthand).
I mean who can forget cries of "Double, double, double!" from the audience
and the beeps of that wheel.
#3 - PRESS YOUR LUCK
Host: Peter Tomarken
The best non-major company produced game show. The thing that has amazed
me is that this show lasted almost three times longer in its initial USA
rerun than it did during its original run, a true testament to its classic
status! And thanks to Fremantle and GSN, a new generation is now able to
join the chorus of "Big Bucks! No Whammies!" with reruns four times a day
on Game Show Network.
The concept on paper seemed ridiculously drab and silly. Press the button
and if you get money it goes on your score. If you get the whammy, you
lose what you've won. However, it's this simplicity and the fact that one
single spin could change the whole outcome of the game, that made this
show so exciting to watch. Like most luck-based (no pun intended) games,
higher-level knowledge wasn't really necessary. But unlike a slot machine
or lottery, one needed a a good sense of strategy and a bit of sensibility
when it came to deciding whether to risk your winnings or not...That's unless
you're Michael Larsen and you've memorized the board's pattern.
The whammy, though at many times corny and cheezy, just added to the fun
element of this show. And for its time the Whammies were pretty hip featuring
Whammies dressed up as Boy George, Michael Jackson, and Cyndi Lauper. Plus,
remember that this wasn't a game show meant to be taken seriously.
Peter Tomarken also showed that he could carry a game show in this one.
If you look at the rules carefully, they're quite intricate. If the game
seemed too simple it was due in part to Peter's ease at moving the game
along and bookkeeping of people's spins and dollar figures. In addition
to having an excellent grasp of the game, Tomarken's sense of humor also
shined through especially in moments of sheer madness with bubbly contestants
and during the technical flubs that plagued the show every now and then.
One other star of the show was the board itself. Not only was it a
carousel of cash, prizes, and Whammies, but special spaces added to the
unpredictability of the show. Spaces "Move back two spaces" or "Add-a-one"
ensured that anything could happen up until the final spin.
#4 - THE $10,000/$20,000/$25,000/$50,000/$100,000 PYRAMID
Hosts: Dick Clark, Bill Cullen, John Davidson
Whereas "Password" dealt with conciseness, Pyramid dealt with speed.
This was Bob Stewart Productions at their finest. With the exception of
"Password," there has been no other game show which has made their
celebrity guests work this hard. The early $10,000 version show the
beginnings of a classic. Rulings were a bit more lenient and the
players were still trying to figure out to play the game (while the
producers were figuring out which celebs could really play the game).
As the showed reached its 70s peak with the $20,000 version, things change.
Dick Clark is certainly at ease and found his groove with the show. The
set is more streamlined in a nice blue and gold rather than the brownish
textures of the $10,000 version. There is now the presence of the Big 7
bonus adding variety to the show. The celebs and players finally have
gotten the nuances of the show resulting in improved gameplay. The only
real hitches to this version were the single-ellimination format (which
virtually provided a death knell to contestants who were stuck with a
really inept celebrity) and the curious payoff format for the Winner's Circle
where you'd be retired after a win, but if you lost you got the opportunity
to play for even more in a subsequent Winner's Circles.
The CBS version and the original $100,000 version were the most refined
versions of the show. The use of bonus cards (7-11 and Mystery 7) in both
games add new challenges and the fact that a each contestant got to play
at both games each day along with the Winner's Circle scoring system helped
out challengers who just were a bit nervous the first go-around. The $100,000
version added to the show with its exciting $100,000 Tournament. This tournament
succeeded from a production standpoint in many ways in that it forced you
to watch every single day because at any point a player could win the $100,000,
while other game show tournaments with elimination rounds allowed people to miss
out on shows until the prescheduled finals and still see the big wins.
An short-lived revival with John Davidson just really didn't work out as
well. The mix of trilons and monitors was awkward. Double Trouble categories
only proved to be cumbserome and complicated . Finally, John Davidson looked
way out of place trying to fill Dick Clark's shoes. Seeing him try to get in on
the post-mortems of the Winner's Circle rounds was just plain dreadful.
"Yeah...yeah...that was a good clue...yeah..."
Things look encouraging for a proposed 2002 revival of the show hosted by
Donny Osmond, hopefully the Pyramid will show its power again.
#5 - FAMILY FEUD
Hosts: Richard Dawson; Ray Combs, Louie Anderson
A true classic. The show used a totally new form of questioning: the
survey. It was easy to learn and everyone from Los Angeles to New York
to Walla Walla could answer the questions. The original ABC version had
some subtle things which really set them apart from their later versions.
There was the "huddle" that "stealing" family would get in as the controlling
team tried to knock out all the answers. There were the real wood sets
giving the show that "long-time family tradition" feel to it. There was
Richard Dawson at his prime throwing barbs at the contestants along with
kisses to the women. Even though, the "pass/play" idea was silly, it was
cool watching the player's at the face-off podium being coaxed by the rest
of the family to either "play" or "pass."
The early years of the Combs version on CBS were excellent with pretty
much the same feel as the Dawson version. Combs was no Dawson, but
nevertheless did an adequate job of filling in his shoes. The show started
to show a bit of wear and tear with changes like the Bullseye round and
a "too little, too late" attempt at revitalizing the show by changing
the set and bringing back Richard Dawson
The show has come back with success in syndication with a brand new
look and veteran comic Louie Anderson at the helm. The modern set
while losing the homespun feel of the original works more than the 1994
version. Louie's really started to become more comfortable as host and
is becoming more and more identified with the "Feud" of the new millienium.
Check out the second half of the Top Ten here.
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